J.B. Spins

Jazz, film, and improvised culture.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Beyond Godzilla: The Secret of the Telegian

Like
David Hedison in The Fly, a Japanese scientist
has developed a teleportation device with tragic results. In this case, the invention
works perfectly, it has just been used for evil purposes by a killer with a few
scores to settle. Human nature combined with Promethean science inevitably produces
mayhem in Jun Fukuda’s The Secret of the
Telegian (trailer
here),
which screens during the Japan Society’s ongoing film series, Beyond Godzilla: Alternative Futures & Fantasies in Japanese Cinema.

It
is a case of bad karma dating back to WWII. In the chaotic days leading up to the
Emperor’s surrender, Lt. Onishi and his corrupt unit intended to hijack a
shipment of gold to set themselves up with a comfortable future. However,
Corporal Sudo and Dr. Nikki, the scientist they are supposed to be escorting to
safety, object to such villainy (Dr. Nikki’s area of expertise? Matter
transference.). Onishi and his accomplices believed they had left Tsudo and
Nikki for dead, but apparently, they were not dead enough.

Fourteen
years later, Sudo starts picking off Onishi and his men, one by one. No matter
what precautions they take, he always manages to reach his prey and avoid
capture. It baffles the cops, led by the no-nonsense Det. Kobayashi, but his
old college buddy, science journalist Kirioka is much better prepared to pursue
a killer like “The Telegian.” He also develops a romantic interest in Akiko
Chujo, the unfortunate high tech component sales associate handling Sudo’s
account (set-up under an assumed name).

In
many ways, Telegian is a close cousin
of The H-Man. Both were produced by
the same studio, featured special effects designed by Eiji Tsuburaya, and
combined elements of the hardboiled crime genre with science fiction-monster
movies. However, Telegian is much
less judgmental regarding the inherit nature of scientific discovery. On the
other hand, it unambiguously suggests human nature is basically rotten to the
core.

Happily,
Telegian also has its eccentricities,
including scenes in a military-themed night club that presents dancers
cavorting in Goldfinger­-style body paint.
Yet, what most distinguishes Telegian is
the WWII backstory and its cynical portrayal of the Imperial military. Frankly,
Sudo’s victims mostly have it coming. He just gets a little too cocky in his
execution—and a little too public, particularly during the clever opening
sequence set in a carnival fun house.

Yumi
Shirakawa (another H-Man alumnus) and
Kôji Tsuruta develop such likably innocent romantic chemistry together, it is almost
a shame Fukuda backburners them in favor of more Telegian terror. Tsuburaya’s
teleportation effects look pretty cool for 1960, while the dodgy victims are
appropriately colorful, in an EC Comics kind of way.

Look,
if you can’t find enjoyment in films like Telegian
and H-Man than we just can’t help
you. They are products of their time, but they strove to entertain, playing it
straight down the middle. In fact, films like these are really indispensable
for anyone trying to understand the post-war Japanese collective psyche. Highly
recommended, The Secret of the Telegian screens
this Saturday (4/1) at the Japan Society, as part of Beyond Godzilla.

God Knows Where I Am: A Death in New Hampshire

New
Hampshire’s state motto is still “live free or die,” but the steady population
influx from Massachusetts has made it a very different place. Ironically, the “live
free or die” ethos apparently still persists in terms of patients’ rights and legal
competency. In the case of Linda Bishop, a state judge essentially released her
from all treatment constraints over the objections of her family and mental
health caregivers, putting her in a position to make good on their motto. Starting
with the discovery of her body, Jedd & Todd Wider work backwards,
chronicling Bishop’s final days in God
Knows Where I Am (trailer
here), which
opens today in New York.

We
learn from Bishop’s friends and family she was once a loving mother and the
general life of any party, but her struggles with schizophrenia took a toll on
her personal relationships. As is often the case, she periodically went off her
medication, based on seemingly reasonable concerns. Unfortunately, she was
suffering from full-fledged paranoid delusions by the time she started
squatting in an empty farmhouse.

The
Wider’s base their film on the diary Bishop kept during her time living
secretly in the farmhouse (living off apples and snow melt from the back yard),
which the police investigators also relied on to determine a cause of death.
The excerpts narrated by Lori Singer deliberately escalate in their delusional
disconnect from reality, but they also paint a picture of a woman who still
embraced life.

In
terms of tone, GKWIA fits into the
spectrum somewhere between Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life(the docudrama about Joyce Vincent, the woman discovered in her
London studio apartment three years after her solitary death) and Peter Liechti’s
The Sound of Insects (an experimental
meditation on an unknown body found naturally mummified in the woods).
Together, these three films would make a hardcore depressing triple feature.

GKWIA should definitely
inspire greater empathy for those wrestling with mental illness. Frankly, it
also might challenge some preconceptions about cops. Not that we should be
surprised, but it is rather striking how sensitive and empathetic the
responding officers are when discussing Bishop and her diary.

In
general, GKWIA is a quiet contemplation
of human frailty and mortality, but it also holds obvious policy implications.
Fittingly, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey offers some medical perspective, but his
commentary is scrupulously circumspect, even though he would be fully justified
in saying “I damn well told you something like this could happen.”

At
times, GKWIA is almost too pretty,
resembling a series of Ozu pillow shots, but the Wider Brothers clearly convey
the wrenching grief of Bishop’s survivors. They deserved better treatment from
the system, just as much as Bishop did, if not more so. Recommended for
thoughtful viewers who are not prone to clinical depression or spiritual
malaise, God Knows Where I Am opens
today (3/31) in New York, at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Zookeeper’s Wife: Zoology in Wartime

The
National Socialists were compulsive looters. In addition to systematically ransacking
Europe’s great art collections, they also helped themselves to the rare breeds
that survived in occupied zoos. Perhaps the most notorious case was the
plundering of the Warsaw Zoo, led by the formerly respected zoologist Lutz
Heck. However, Dr. Jan and Antonina Zabinski responded with secret defiance,
sheltering hundreds of Jewish fugitives within zoo grounds. Diane Ackerman’s
bestselling nonfiction account of the Zabinskis’ heroic resistance gets the big
screen treatment in Niki Caro’s The
Zookeeper’s Wife (trailer
here),
which opens tomorrow in New York.

Dr.
Jan Zabinski was the official director of the Warsaw Zoo (as well as
Superintendent of Warsaw’s city parks), but the staff universally recognized
his wife Antonina as an unofficial co-director. Even a visiting Germany
zoologist with the Bond villain name of Lutz Heck acknowledged her expertise at
handling animals. Indeed, she made quite an impression. Following the signing
of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland,
Heck returns to help himself to the zoo’s prized animals. He pretends he will
merely hold them for safe-keeping and they pretend to believe him. After all,
at the point in the war, Germany really did look like a safer harbor for them
to live, no matter how temporarily.

Heck
returns yet again to pursue his bizarre project to genetically cross-breed the
Auroch, a dead species of wild cattle back into existence, utilizing the zoo’s
facilities. One would think an extinct bovine would not be the sort of
symbolism the National Socialists would want to associate with the Third Reich,
but somehow, they did indeed believe the late, lamented Auroch represented Aryan
purity, or something. Regardless, Heck becomes a constant presence at the zoo,
which offers a measure of protection from the occupying authorities but also
represents a constant threat of danger.

By
this time, the Zabinskis were sheltering dozens of Polish Jews. Some stayed
only a few days, while others spent most of the war years in the cellar of the
zoo villa. Under Heck’s pompous nose, Dr. Zabinski developed a system with the
chairman of the Jewish council to regularly smuggle Jews out of the ghetto.
Inevitably, he would also join the Home Army and fight during the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising, but his capture will leave his wife and their young son Ryszard in a precarious
position.

This
really is an incredible story of courage and sacrifice, plus it has furry
mammals. However, parents should keep in mind this is a PG-13 movie. It has a
tremendous message, but the film does not water down just how perilous the
wartime conditions were for the animals. There are no actual scenes of
concentration camps, but observant viewers will recognize Dr. Janusz Korczak
(memorably depicted in Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak)
and his children during the Treblinka deportations (and everyone should understand
the fate that awaited them).

Caro
and cinematographer Andrij Parekh create some strikingly surreal imagery
through the juxtaposition of the Eden-like zoo and its exotic creatures with
the horrific realities of war. However, Caro and screenwriter Angela Workman give
Dr. Zabinski’s extensive involvement with the Home Army rather short shrift.

Regardless,
the film gets the broad strokes right, vividly capturing a sense of the
constant fear the Zabinskis lived with. Jessica Chastain directly conveys the
titular character’s comfort with animals and her hesitancy around people, but
she is clearly trying to do something misguidedly Streepian with her
slip-sliding accent. Still, she and the (Flemish) rock solid Johan Heldenbergh
develop some subtle but powerful chemistry as the Zabinskis. Between this film
and Vincent Pérez’s Alone in Berlin, Daniel
Brühl is in very real danger of being typecast as an impotent Nazi hack, but he
gives the film a bit of an edge as the creepy Heck.

This is such a remarkable story it is downright
baffling nobody tried to tell it before. Caro and Workman consistently opt for mainstream
decorum, but they arguably deserve credit for underplaying the obvious “people
in a zoo” metaphor. Respectfully recommended for general audiences, The Zookeeper’s Wife opens tomorrow
(3/31) in New York, at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

David Lynch: The Art Life

There
are two types of David Lynch fans who will want very different things from a
Lynch documentary. Casual fans will just want Twin Peaks relaunch spoilers and Dennis Hopper anecdotes from the
production of Blue Velvet. Serious
fans will want something as inscrutable and ambiguous as Lynch’s most recent
films (that really aren’t that recent anymore). Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and
Olivia Neergaard-Holm do not even try to find a middle ground, fully opting for
the latter option throughout David Lynch:
The Art Life (trailer
here),
which opens tomorrow in New York.

Shot
in stylized grainy sepia-tones, Art Life looks like it might exist in the world of Eraserhead, the pseudo-climatic event Lynch’s reminiscences sort of
build towards. Rather than moviemaking, we see Lynch painting in his studio and
telling stories from his suburban youth. Mostly, these are just hints of
artistic bildungsroman, but he gives us one obviously significant and cinematic
incident that clearly helped inspire Blue
Velvet. If anyone ever produces The
David Lynch Story as a narrative feature, it will surely start with that
scene.

Beyond
that, Nguyen and company go about soaking up the Lynchian atmosphere rather
than push him to be more revealing or to stay on topic. It is interesting to
see photos and footage of Lynch as a Kyle MacLachlan-looking youth and he has
some pleasant memories of his old art school buddy and future production
designer Jack Fisk, as well as his early mentor, Bushnell Keeler. However,
audiences should understand going in, there is much more discussion of Lynch’s
paintings (they’re dark, go figure) than say Dune, Wild at Heart, or Mulholland
Drive.

As a result, Art Life is bound to be divisive. It is deliberately slow and resolutely
coy, readily allowing Lynch to maintain his guarded defenses. Yet, as a double
irony, the mounting anticipation for the return of Twin Peaks makes it seem relatively commercial, even though Lynch
and the filmmakers do everything in their power to undermine any possible
popular appeal. For mere mortals, it is a frustrating film that often has a
rather lulling effect. Hence, David
Lynch: The Art Life is only for the diehard initiates in the Lynchian
cult when it opens tomorrow (3/31) in New York, at the IFC Center.

KINO! ’17: Paula

Paula
Modersohn-Becker is considered an early pioneer of Expressionism, but the
chauvinistic art world has yet to fully acknowledge her significance. In
contrast, the patriarchy could be relied upon to shower acclaim and prestige
upon male artists, like Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec, right? Maybe it is just
tough for any artist with a truly original vision. Despite her early death,
Modersohn-Becker seems to have lived an easier life than her aforementioned
contemporaries, at least judging from Christian Schwochow’s biopic, Paula (trailer here), which screens
during the 2017 KINO! festival of German cinema in New York.

If
viewers had a dollar for every time a man pats Modersohn-Becker on the head and
tells her pretty little ladies can’t paint, they might be able to afford one of
her paintings. Yet, her unsupportive father was supportive enough to cover her
expenses while she was a pupil at the Worpswede artists’ colony. Most of the
faculty were predictably dismissive, but obviously not the widowed Otto
Modersohn. Their union had its issues, including artistic rivalry, but he
continued to support her, even when she absconded to Paris.

Frankly,
screenwriters Stefan (Generation War)
Kolditz & Stephan Suschke do not exactly burnish Modersohn-Becker’s
reputation as a feminist icon. In point of fact, she comes across as rather
selfish and short on empathy. It is a good thing she produced such distinctive work
or else the two-hour-and-three-minute running time would really feel excessive.

On
the other hand, Carla Juri’s Modersohn-Becker is truly a neurotic tornado. You
would definitely say she has an artistic temperament. Roxane Duran provides a
reality check and an accessible audience vantage point as Modersohn-Becker’s
best friend and colleague Clara Westoff (Rilke). However, it is Albrecht Schuch
who really engages viewers’ sympathy as the put-upon Otto.

Arguably,
Paula is a perfectly presentable work
of biographical narrative filmmaking, but Schwochow never develops a hook to
differentiate it from thematically similar films, such as Séraphine. The period trappings are quite lovely, but the arc is as
predictable as the setting sun. Still, it is the sort of safe programming
choice that always gets a positive response.

In
the doc !Women Art Revolution, New
Yorkers were asked if they could name three women artists, but few could get past
Frida Kahlo. You might think any school child could rattle off Georgia O’Keefe,
Marry Cassatt, and Diane Arbus, but apparently, the state of New York public
schools is such that they cannot. Maybe the increased attention for Hilma af
Klint in Personal Shopperand Modersohn-Becker
here will help them with their next man-in-the-street pop quiz. It is classy
and informative, but not particularly involving. Recommended for fans of films
like Cézanne et Moiand Renoir, Paula screens tomorrow (3/31) and Saturday (4/1) as part of this
year’s KINO.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The Blackcoat’s Daughter: February Chills Your Soul

What
school has its semester break in February? It sounds like particularly poor
planning for a boarding school in the snowy Northeast. Indeed, the staff
assumes two of their students’ parents have been waylaid by the weather, but we
suspect something much more sinister is afoot in Osgood Perkin’s The Blackcoat’s Daughter (a.k.a. February, trailer here), which A24 and DirecTV will
release in theaters and On-Demand March 31, 2017.

Lucy
the upperclassman deliberately gave her parents incorrect information to allow
herself more time to deal with what she suspects is an unwanted pregnancy. In
contrast, young Kat was eagerly anticipating the arrival of her parents, but she
fears her nightmarish visions of an icy car crash have come true. Something
very bad will happen during their long lonely night at Bramford, which will
continue to reverberate nine years later.

In
that later timeline, Joan Marsh is trying to reach Bramford as quickly as
possible, even though she is conspicuously unprepared for the harsh winter
weather. Presumably, she is quite fortunate to get picked up by Bill and Linda,
but they too have a troubling backstory. Apparently, she reminds him of their
late daughter, a Bramford student who was brutally murdered. Obviously, the
trauma left them permanently damaged, but they might also be somewhat cracked.
Eventually, all the relationships become clear as Perkins cuts between
storylines.

Perkins
is the son of Anthony Perkins, the original Norman Bates, and he definitely
upholds the standards of the family business. Blackcoat is an extraordinarily disciplined horror film that cranks
up the tension through the power of suggestion and uncertainty rather than
messy special effects. In a more just world, Blackcoat would be a shoe-in for an Academy Award for its profoundly
unsettling ambient sound design and that ghostly “Deedle, deedle, Blackcoat’s daughter,
what was in the holy water” song would at least be one of the ceremony’s
musical numbers, regardless whether it is Oscar-eligible. The spartan deserted
prep school setting is also eerie as all get out.

Kiernan
Shipka and Emma Roberts are creepy as heck as Kat and Marsh. However, it is
James Remar and Lauren Holly who really kick the film up several notches as
Bill and Linda. We’re talking about some stinging,
push-you-into-the-back-of-your-seat work here. They also provide some helpful
misdirection for a twist that really isn’t that hard to anticipate—however, its
implications are deeply disturbing.

There is no doubt Perkins has a keen grasp of
what makes the demonic so profoundly terrifying. He also has a practical
understanding of horror movie mechanics. This is a scary movie, precisely
because of its subtlety and exacting mise-en-scène. Highly recommended for
smart horror fans, The Blackcoat’s
Daughter opens this Friday (3/31) in New York, at the Village East.

Beyond Godzilla: School in the Crosshairs

Millions
of Japanese students have suspected cram schools are evil, but it took a
maverick like Nobuhiko Obayashi to conclusively prove it. In this case, the
elite Eiko tutorial school is secretly coopting brainy but pliable students to
become the brown-shorted advance team for the impending alien invasion.
Fortunately, a teen idol with telekinetic powers will defend her high school
and planet Earth in Obayashi’s School in
the Crosshairs (trailer
here),
which screens during the Japan Society’s new film series, Beyond Godzilla: Alternative Futures & Fantasies in Japanese Cinema.

Yuka
Mitamura is at the top of her class (no cram school for her), but she is still
popular with the rest of the slackers. This definitely includes her ambiguously
platonic guy pal, Koji Seki. Studying really isn’t his thing. He is the star of
the school’s kendo team, but he still isn’t very good. However, a little help
from Mitamura will make him a hero at an important meet.

Obviously,
if the tightly wound new transfer student Michiru Takamizawa wants to win the
hall monitor election as the first step towards global domination, she will
have to go through Mitamura. In terms of psychic power, they are rather evenly
matched, but Takamizawa has more back-up, including Kyogoku, the evil overlord
from Venus, who has been trying to lure Mitamura to the dark side of the Force
for several weeks.

It
probably goes without saying when it comes to Obayashi making high school
movies, but School in the Crosshairs is
really and truly nuts. Like his mind-melting House, Crosshairs features
Obayashi’s hand-crafted analog special effects, but this time around they are
even more defiantly cheesy looking. On the other hand, the student morality
patrols Takamizawa organizes and decks out fascist uniforms are maybe even
creepier today than when Crosshairs was
originally released in 1981, thanks to rise in campus speech codes and thought
policing.

Yet,
Crosshairs is really just amazingly
sweet, thanks to the appealing almost but not quite ready to be
boyfriend-girlfriend chemistry shared by Mitamura and Seki. Teen idol Hiroko
Yakushimaru (a Japan Society favorite from Sailor Suit and Machine Gun) is unflaggingly plucky and charming, but also
disarmingly self-effacing, while Ryôichi Takayanagi plays Seki as a big old
likable lug of a guy. However, it is strange Masami Hasegawa did not go on to
greater teen stardom, because she is terrific as the uptight, glowing-eyed
Takamizawa.

There is so much random weirdness in Crosshairs Obayashi practically creates
a trippy new standard for normalcy. Regardless, it is all good, virtuous fun.
There is a real story in there too. In fact, it is based on a YA novel by Taku
Mayumura that has also been adapted for television and anime. It is easy to see
why viewers would enjoy weekly visits with characters like Mitamura and Seki,
as well as even their boneheaded but free-thinking gym teacher. Honestly, this
film is the reason Edison and the Lumières invented moving pictures (they just
didn’t realize it at the time). Very highly recommended, School in the Crosshairs screens this Friday (3/31) at the Japan
Society, as part of Beyond Godzilla.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Five Came Back: To Serve and Document

There
are notable exceptions, like the tireless Gary Sinise and his Captain Dan Band,
but it is almost impossible to imagine today’s Hollywood celebrities appearing
at War Bond rallies and hobnobbing with average GIs at the Stage Door Canteen.
It is even more unlikely any of the top-tier tent-pole directors would put
their careers on hold to help the government make their case for war and
document the subsequent battles. Yet that is exactly what Frank Capra, John
Ford, William Wyler, George Stevens, and John Huston did during World War II. Their
wartime experiences are chronicled in Five
Came Back (trailer
here),
a three-part documentary directed by Laurent Bouzereau and adapted by Mark
Harris from his nonfiction bestseller, which premieres this Friday on Netflix.

Arguably,
Capra, Ford, Wyler, and Stevens were at the top of their games when they joined
the war effort, while Huston had just scored his first surprise breakout hit (a
little film called The Maltese Falcon).
They would lose several productive years, but they were more than willing to
serve. Aside from Capra, who was something of a moviemaking field marshal,
mostly working in Washington on the Why
We Fight series, all risked their lives amid real and frequently bloody warfighting.

John
Ford was the earliest into battle, recording the first American victory
captured on film in the Oscar winning documentary short, The Battle of Midway. Eventually, Ford and Stevens would combine
forces to document D-Day, which incredibly was not the latter’s most harrowing
assignment. Huston supposedly documented plenty of action in Battle for San Pietro and Tunisian Victory, but his reliance on
recreated scenes raises ethical issues Harris and company do not ignore.
However, his long-suppressed PTSD documentary Let There Be Light is presented as a redemptive masterwork. Wyler’s
Oscar winning The Memphis Belle: A Story
of a Flying Fortress could very well still be the most popular of the
wartime documentaries under discussion, but George Stevens’ journalistic record
of the liberation of Dachau clearly had the most far-reaching influence. It was
even presented as evidence at the Nuremberg military tribunals.

Yet,
that is just a part of the story. Harris also traces the lasting influence of
the directors’ wartime experiences on their subsequent studio films. To take
stock of their legacies, five contemporary directors serve as resident experts
on their particular WWII-era filmmakers. Some of the pairings are not exactly
obvious, but Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greenglass, Stephen Spielberg, Lawrence
Kasdan, and Francis Ford Coppola all have significant insights to offer on
Capra, Ford, Wyler, Stevens, and Huston, respectively.

There is some pretty amazing footage in FCB (and almost all of it is totally
legit, notwithstanding Huston’s occasional fudging). Having distribution through
Netflix also allows Bouzereau sufficient time and flexibility to fully tell the
five men’s stories. As a result, the complete series actually exceeds three
hours, with the individual episodes clocking in at fifty-nine, sixty-seven, and
sixty-nine minutes. The contemporary directors also engage in some respectable
film criticism, which is certainly not a pursuit for the faint of heart. Yet,
what is most refreshing about FCB is
the unabashed patriotism of its subjects. These were men with larger-than-life
personalities and a great love of country, who were not afraid some snide
hipster might call them “jingoistic.” Very highly recommended, Five Came Back starts streaming this
Friday (3/31) on Netflix.

Donnie Darko: The 15th Anniversary Restored Director’s Cut

It
was a box office flop that inspired a non-canonical sequel. For obvious reasons,
the late fall of 2001 was not a great time to release a film about a jet engine
mysteriously falling out of the sky into the protagonist’s bedroom, but it
would find its audience through midnight screenings and home video (including
VHS). Now the apocalyptic high school angst is back in the 4K restored director’s
cut and the original theatrical edit of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (trailer
here),
both of which open in select cities starting this Friday.

Much
to his family’s consternation, Donnie Darko has gone off his meds. However, he
will consider taking them again when strange things start happening around him.
For one thing, he is sleepwalking again. During his latest bout of
somnambulism, he encounters “Frank,” presumably a dude in a bunny suit or possibly a
cosmic rabbit over six feet tall (not even counting the ears), who tells him
the world will end inn twenty-six days.

When
Darko finally returns home, he finds it cordoned off by the FAA. Evidently, his
rendezvous with Frank saved him from the aforementioned jet engine. Much to the
investigators’ bewilderment, there are no aircraft in the vicinity missing any
hardware. However, Darko will figure out what it is and how it is significant
thanks to Frank’s subsequent cryptic messages and The Philosophy of Time Travel, a theoretical treatise written by
Roberta Sparrow, a.k.a. “Grandma Death,” an addled old lady in the neighborhood
obsessed with her mailbox.

Apparently,
there was also a Millennial generation of genre film fans who were obsessed
with Donnie Darko. To paraphrase
Pacino, they knew the film so well, he was “Don Darko” to them. It seems some
prefer the twenty-minute-shorter theatrical version to the director’s cut,
because it is more ambiguous and open to interpretation. However, those who
start with Kelly’s cut will be struck by the passages from Sparrow’s book that
give context to the strange events of Darko’s life. Essentially, they make the
nun turned science teacher into a prophet in her own time and dimension.

Jake
Gyllenhaal is weirdly compelling as Darko, a rather strange, not especially
well-socialized teen, who could indeed be the younger alter-ego of Gyllenhaal’s
Nightcrawler character, Louis Bloom.
Arguably, Darko is the film that made
the Gyllenhaals the Gyllenhaals, convincingly casting his sister Maggie as
Darko’s sister Elizabeth.

Yet,
it is a number of the supporting performances that really make indelible impressions.
Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne have terrific bantering chemistry together,
but they are ultimately quite touching as Darko’s parents. Executive producer
Drew Barrymore is subversively sly and witty as Karen Pomery, the only decent
teacher at Darko’s progressive prep school. Patrick Swayze willingly blows up
his big screen image as sleazy self-help guru Jim Cunningham, while the
Katharine Ross totally sells some intense hypnosis sessions, as Darko’s shrink,
Dr. Thurman.

Without a doubt, Darko’s creepy look and spot-on 1980s soundtrack contributed
immeasurably to its cult success. There is still something about it that gets
under your skin (in a good way), perhaps now more than ever. Highly recommended
in its director’s cut, Donnie Darko opens
this Friday (3/31) in New York, at the Metrograph (theatrical cut) and in Los
Angeles at the Cinefamily (both versions).

Peelers: Zombies in a Strip Club

We
know from Train to Busana speeding
bullet train is the worst possible place for a zombie apocalypse. In contrast,
a divey roadhouse strip joint ought to be a relatively advantageous spot. It is
relatively isolated, with plenty of parking and no spying neighbors. However,
its strict “no touching” policy will go out the window when the infected hordes
attack in Sevé Schelenz’s Peelers (trailer here), which releases
today on VOD, from Uncork’d Entertainment.

This
was always supposed to be the club’s last night, at least under the management
of Blue Jean (don’t call her “BJ,” unless you want some serious bruising). She
was forced to sell out to an obnoxious local developer with mysterious plans
for the property. Presumably Blue Jean will survive. She still hurls a mean
fastball and drives a current issue police patrol motorcycle, but her
torch-carrying bouncer Remy will miss seeing her every night.

Of
course, personal dramas will have to be put on hold (perhaps forever) when four
miners start acting crazy violent. Apparently, they were contaminated with some
sort of petroleum-based zombie pathogen. Rather inconveniently, they start
acting ultra-aggressive and they won’t stay dead.

Oddly
enough, Peelers is a little slow out
of the blocks, but it offers a few clever twists on the zombie genre, in accordance
with the properties of oil. Obviously, Peelers
is tailored-made for VOD, but most of the strip club business is played for
American Pie-style laughs rather than
erotic titillation (which is probably true of most strip clubs in the
boondocks).

Look,
you know what you’re getting here, but for what it’s worth, Wren Walker shows
real, potential movie star presence as Blue Jean. She also develops some rather
pleasant chemistry with Caz Odin Darko’s Remy. Momona Komagata adds a further
bit of empowerment to the mix as Frankie, the stripper Remy was teaching
martial arts. Unfortunately, the rest of her colleagues are shallow stereotypes,
at best.

This isn’t even the first undead exotic dancer
movie (hello, Zombie Strippers with
Robert Englund and Trump super-fan Jenna Jameson), but the basic concept is
pretty bullet-proof. Peelers is often
amusing and it is arguably smarter than its predecessors. Recommended for
zombie fans in the mood for a meathead movie, Peelers releases today on VOD platforms, including iTunes.

Monday, March 27, 2017

The Prison: Hard Time in Korea

The
recidivism rate for this prison is darn near 100%, especially if you are
fortunate enough to be quartered in Jung Ik-ho’s block. His men start
re-offending almost right away, but their incarceration gives them an airtight
alibi. It is a heck of a place for a disgraced cop to serve his sentence, but
he happens to have a particular set of skills that will be of use to Jung in Na
Hyun’s simply-titled The Prison (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.

A
lot of his fellow prisoners are here because of Song Yoo-gun, awkwardly including
the top dog of his prison cell. He will take some harsh beatings, but he will
quickly develop a survival strategy. It immediately becomes apparent the
corrupt warden is not really running the show here. Jung is. He and his men
live well in their cell block, where they plot outside jobs to keep the dirty
money flowing. By interceding in situations where none of Jung’s other men are
crazier enough to act, Song ingratiates himself with the non-aligned gangster.
In fact, he quickly becomes one of Jung’s favorites, but he also has a secret
you can probably guess.

Those
who are familiar with the Well Go USA catalog might wonder if they are starting
to repeat themselves, since Erik Matti excellent thriller On the Jobstarts with a similar premise, but Na Hyun takes it in a
very different direction. Like just about every recent Korean thriller, Prison is preoccupied with issues of
governmental corruption. Granted, Song has a dramatic backstory motivating him,
but unlike Matti’s film, there is absolutely no attention given to the home
front. Frankly, there is not a single woman to be seen throughout the film and
only one is briefly heard over the phone (so some things about prison life are
still a bummer).

On
the other hand, there is plenty of cartilage-crunching action. Previously best known
as the screenwriter of crowd-pleasers like Forever
the Moment, Na Hyun gets his money’s worth with his directorial debut,
going big with a truly explosive climax. The two lead antagonists also hold up
their end, generating all kinds of hardboiled heat. Frankly, it is great fun
watching the hateful-yet-respectful chemistry that develops between Kim (Gangnam Blues) Rae-won and Han (Forbidden Quest) Suk-kyu as Song and
Jung, respectively. It is also great fun to watch Lee (Inside Men) Kyoung-young, a character actor who seems to specialize
in crooked politicians, do his thing as correctional department head Bae (who
ironically happens to be somewhat honest this time around, but is still unrepentantly
arrogant).

There is no question The Prison can hang with Inside
Men and the most obvious comp film, A Violent Prosecutor, but in many ways, it is grittier and less sentimental. At
the risk of sounding fannish, it is exactly the kind of film that reminds us
why we dig Korean action movies and thrillers. Recommended with enthusiasm, The Prison opens this Friday (3/31) in
New York, at the AMC Empire.

Cezanne et Moi: The Great French Bromance

The
“moi” in this case is Emile Zola, who was also the “I” in the Dreyfuss Affair J’Accuse. Despite his tremendous
literary success at the time, Zola is now best known outside of France for his
personal associations: the defender of the unjustly convicted captain and the estranged
friend of Impressionist-forerunner Paul Cézanne. Opting for intimate drama over
grand scandals, Danièle Thompson focuses squarely on the latter relationship
throughout Cézanne et Moi (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.

In
1888, Cézanne visits his old friend Zola for the final time. Initially, they
are cordial and even nostalgic, but the publication of Zola’s novel The Masterpiece hangs over the meeting.
Everyone in the Smart Set considers the self-destructive protagonist to be a
thinly veiled portrait of Cézanne, especially Cézanne himself. As the painter
and the novelist dance around the issue, Thompson flashes back to episodes from
their childhood and their early years scuffling in Paris.

Essentially,
we see them switch positions. Zola, the naturalized Italian, will rise up out
of his family’s mean circumstances to become one of the most widely read
writers of his day. Conversely, Cézanne is born to privilege, but will be
spurned by the art establishment as well as polite society. Nevertheless, he
stubbornly adhered to his own artistic vision, earning an only partly unfair
reputation for being a misanthropic recluse as a result.

C et Moi might have made a
better stage play than a motion picture. The title roles offer a great deal of
meat for two somewhat more mature actors to chew on. The classy subject matter
also holds an obvious appeal to costume drama fans. Thompson seems to recognize
she lacks the lightness of touch that made the best Merchant-Ivory films such
lovely jewel boxes. Instead, she takes the film in another direction, penning
some brutally frank, cruelly caustic exchanges. Indeed, the best scenes in the
film focus on the two artistic giants, as they carve into each other as only
formerly close comrades can.

Guillaume
Gallienne (of the Comédie-Française) and Guillaume Canet are terrific as Cézanne
and Zola, respectively, at least when they get to really play off each other
(whereas, the flashbacks to their student years feel like routine historical
drama exposition.) However, Alice Pol adds an element of unpredictability as
befits Zola’s once scandalous wife Alexndrine (as she is now known).

Jean-Marie Dreujou makes the Provence landscape
sparkle—a contribution Cézanne would surely appreciate. It is a richly
appointed period production, but Éric Nevaux’s dully respectable themes lack
any sort of flavor or texture. Still, Thompson and the two Guillaumes always
make us believe these two men are so deeply connected, they know exactly what
to say to hurt each other the most. Recommended for fans of classy French
cinema, Cézanne et Moi opens this
Friday (3/31) in New York, at the Landmark Sunshine.

Is America in Retreat? Johan Norberg Asks the Question

The
term “world’s policeman” is often used in a derisive, Keystone Cops sort of way,
but couldn’t this world use a bit more law and order? Maybe America does not
necessarily have to fulfill those duties, but who else has the sufficient
wherewithal? China? We have seen how they police their own people and it is
highly problematic. Johan Norberg, Cato Institute Fellow and Executive Editor
of Free to Choose Media chronicles America’s recent trend towards international
disengagement and assesses the long-term implications in Is America in Retreat (trailer here), directed by Kip
Perry & Elan Bentov, which airs throughout the week on select PBS stations.

If
there is one single pivotal event in recent history for the commentators in Retreat, it would undeniably be the Obama
Administration’s dangerous decision not to enforce its own “red line”
prohibiting Assad from using chemical weapons against his own people, meekly
accepting a “Russia deal” instead. Retreat
explicitly links the “red line” capitulation to the subsequent refugee crisis,
as well as the Putin’s military aggression in Ukraine. As Bret Stephens argues:

“Bashar
Assad crossed that line by killing a thousand people with Sarin gas in Damascus.
There were no consequences. Vladimir Putin observing what happened in Syria
took Crimea in the space of a couple of days. Even then, there were almost no
consequences.”

Norberg
travels (as near as he can to) to three geopolitical flash points, where the
lack of American leadership can be directly felt. The first two are indeed
Ukraine and Syria (represented by recently arrived migrants in Germany), which
receive plenty of media attention. However, the third flash point, the South
China Sea, is arguably the most critical, but under-reported.

One
of the big take-aways from Retreat is
the role first Britain and then the U.S. have played ensuring safe navigation during
their respective Pax Britannica and Pax Americana. Throughout the last seventy
years, the U.S. Navy has frequently mounted “Freedom of Navigation” operations
through international waterways that overreaching nations have claims in
defiance of international law, much like the British did during the prior
century. In each case, the British and Americans have been the only nation powerful
enough to do this kind of maritime policing, but we also stood to gain the most
by maintaining the unfettered flow of international trade.

However,
American foreign policy now officially takes no positions regarding territorial
claims in the South China Sea, which is obviously an open invitation to China
to bully its neighbors. Norberg shows us the human cost of our deference to the
PRC, traveling with a crew of Filipino fisherman who are chased out of their
own waters by the Chinese Cost Guard.

Another
big takeaway from Retreat is its
application of James Q. Wilson’s Broken
Windows Theory to foreign policy. It makes a convincing case we have reaped
greater international instability and human rights catastrophes by ignoring
smaller ones, like the poison gas attacks in Syria or Beijing’s island grabs.
Unfortunately, it does not leave viewers feeling optimistic. Despite talking
like an internationalist, Obama followed a policy of reckless retreat more
often than not. Yet, rather perversely, he has been succeeded by a President
who frequently falls back on “America First” rhetoric.

It
is rather ironic the generally libertarian Free to Choose Network and the “Classical
Liberal” Norberg would make this case for a more engaged U.S. foreign policy,
but it also makes their arguments harder to ignore. Provocative but soundly
reasoned, Is America in Retreat is
highly recommended for all American citizens concerned about our position in
the world. It airs in various cities throughout the week, including this
Thursday (3/30) on Baltimore’s WMPB and Saturday afternoon (4/1) on New York’s
WNET.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

BUFF ’17: Prevenge

Ruth
probably takes reasonable precautions during her pregnancy, like only smoking
filtered cigarettes and drinking clear booze. Granted, committing violent spree
murders seems like a source of unnecessary physical stress, but you can’t blame
her for it. She is convinced each killing was planned by her unborn daughter.
Things will get messy in director-screenwriter-star Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (trailer here), the opening
night film of the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival, which now streams
exclusively on Shudder.

Her
first victim will be a lewd pet shop proprietor. Her second vic will be an even
crasser jerkheel. Yes, Prevenge has
plenty of feminist implications, but they will be complicated by her subsequent
victim, an ice cold professional woman named Ella. In fact, Ruth will become
downright distressed when her collection of embryonic tissue insists a conspicuously
nice dude will have to die, so she can reach her next intended prey. At this
point, it should be clear to all her targets are not randomly selected. They
are linked in a very personal way.

Ruth’s
pregnancy certainly looks convincing, because Lowe really was expecting during
the filming. That sounds absolutely exhausting, but at least she was able to
channel her discomfort into on-screen mayhem. She has a knack for delivering bracingly
caustic lines and has the power to summon some wickedly potent fierceness. Lowe
truly makes Ruth a force to be reckoned with, but she still manages to evoke
the insecurities that plague her.

As
befits a semi-pseudo-feminist horror film, the strongest support comes from Jo
Hartley as her chipper Health Service midwife, who is only partially aware of
the awkwardness of the platitudes she tells Ruth. Tom Davis and Dan Renton Skinner
also make strong impressions as her absolutely odious early victims.

Lowe previously co-wrote and co-starred in Ben
Wheatley’s Sightseerswith Steve
Oram, which should give you a sense of her genre sensibilities. Yet, Prevenge is a more restrained and
ultimately more tragic film. It sees the miserable in British working class
miserabalism, but adds a lot of blood and sarcasm to making rather
transgressively fun. Recommended for fans of horror movies with attitude, Prevenge is now streaming on Shudder
after kicking off this year’s BUFF.

BUFF ’17: The Golden Chain (short)

You
could call Cyin a Gödel galaxy. All known principles of science and logic break
down within its high-density mass. It is more like a different dimension than a
galaxy within our universe, because we can never truly understand or perceive
reality as it exists inside. Rather understandably, Cyin represents an almost
existential challenge for researchers on a far future Nigerian space station in
Adebukola Bodunrin & Ezra Clayton Daniels’ animated Afrofuturist short
film, The Golden Chain (trailer here), which screens
tonight during the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival.

Yetunde
cautions her young colleague not to impose her own personal meanings onto the
great mystery of Cyin. All they can do as scientists is record data from the
event horizon. She chastises with conviction, perhaps to convince herself.
Indeed, she seems to be exhibiting signs of professional frustration and
personal depression. Her earth-bound lover Andre tries to reach out through an
interstellar avatar-based method of communication that incorporates tactile
elements, but she evades and stonewalls rather than reveal her potentially
cosmos altering plans.

Golden Chain is a short film,
but it has some big ideas. In fact, it probably could have used more time to
develop its cosmic themes and establish the Afrofuturist imagery (which seems
to just pop up in the climatic sequence). In just thirteen minutes, they do an
incredible amount of world building. Still, you could say Bodunrin &
Clayton leave viewers wanting more (and yes, time is money when it comes to
independent film production). There is no question Golden Chain could be fleshed out and expanded into a feature
length film, but it is the sort of concept-driven science fiction that lazy critics
and fan sites too often ignore.

Regardless,
this is a wickedly smart film that feels remarkably up to date with respects to
physics, astrophysics, mathematics, propositional logic, and critical theory. Highly
recommended for fans of cerebral sf, The
Golden Chain screens today (3/26) during the Get the Balance Right shorts program at this year’s BUFF (and be
sure to stay for the terrific Dave Made a Maze).

Saturday, March 25, 2017

BUFF ’17: An Eldritch Place (short)

Which
is scarier, the Lovecraftian Dreamlands or the Paris suburbs? An immigrant
security guard will have a chance to compare and contrast in Julien Jauniaux’s
short film An Eldritch Place (trailer here), which screens
tonight during the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival.

A
reputable scientist should never look as haggard and stressed out as Francis Wayland.
Even though his apartment complex is in the city outskirts, it is still
considered a reasonably quiet neighborhood, so he really shouldn’t be so
concerned about security. However, he has some rather specialized gear in his
garage and a malfunctioning door. Frankly, it sounds like a dull but easy temp
job to Abdel Alhazred, who is perfectly willing to accept.

Of
course, it will be more complicated than he anticipates. First, a catty
neighbor tells him malicious gossip about the disappearance of Wayland’s wife.
Then he starts to hear strange noises over the walkie-talkie—real strange. When
he investigates, Wayland is nowhere to be found, but the scene he left behind
is decidedly ominous. Yes, there are references to Cthulhu and the Dreamlands.

Eldritch is one of at least
two impressively produced Lovecraftian short films at this year’s BUFF, but its
tone is radically different from Nick Spooner’s The Call of Charlie. Jauniaux’s film is thoroughly eerie and loaded
with foreboding. Frankly, he makes the earthly glass and concrete housing
complex just as spooky as the realm of the Elder Gods, if not more so. Yet, the
eldritch dimension looks surprisingly real, but still appropriately malevolent.

As Wayland, Ludovic Philips follows in the
tradition of Jeffrey Combs’ Dr. Herbert West, creating another creepy Lovecraft-associated
mad doctor. Thanks to cinematographer Elodie Drion, it all looks stylishly
sinister, while sound designer Jeremy Bocquet and composer Sarah Bloom further
underscore the unsettling vibe, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of vintage
John Carpenter. It is a terrific horror short that proves the Lovecraftian themes
and motifs are still yielding rich new interpretations. Highly recommended for
genre fans, An Eldritch Place screens
tonight (3/25) as part of BUFF ’17.

BUFF ’17: She’s Allergic to Cats

There
is a point on the cinematic spectrum where cheapo grade-Z schlock starts to
approach the style and texture of low-fi “expression for expression’s sake”
experimental film. This movie understands that place because it lives there.
Obsession and humiliation are just part of ordinary life for a video artist
working on the fringes of Hollywood in Michael Reich’s She Allergic to Cats (trailer here), which screens
tonight during the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival.

Mike
Pinkney plays Mike Pinkney, an aspiring filmmaker who came to Hollywood to
become a filmmaker, but found the town had not awaited his arrival with great anticipation.
Currently, he works as a dog-groomer, a job he hates and is terrible at doing,
as we can see from his Mekas-esque video diaries, dressed up with retro-1980s
off-the-shelf computer effects. However, it is through his work at Tail-Waggers
that he meets the alluring Cora.

Oddly
enough, Pinkney will have more luck pursuing Cora than anything else he tries.
He still dreams of making his version of Stephen King’s Carrie with talking cats, but he has no support from his bullying
German agent Sebastian. He also can’t get his club rocker landlord Honey Davis,
played by Honey Davis from Honey Davis and the Bees to do anything about his
rat infestation problem. So, do you see where this might be going?

Reich
and cinematographer Zach Driscoll deserve tremendous credit for nailing the
look of either terrible exploitation films or ambitious avant-garde cinema.
Someone should be embarrassed how aesthetically compatible Allergic to Cats is with Joan Jonas’s Double Lunar Dogs—and it isn’t Reich. However, that does not change
the fact all Allergic’s cheesy graphics
and VHS tracking effects are likely to give you a stress migraine.

It
is actually sort of fun to watch Sonja Kinski (daughter of Nastassja) and
Pinkney play off each as Cora and his meta-self, at least in their early scenes
together. Flula Borg is also a contemptuous riot as the arrogant Sebastian.
However, the cold hard truth is a little of Allergic
goes a long, long way.

Still,
just about everyone will agree this is the film The Truth About Cats and Dogs should have been in a more
interesting world. The more you relate to Pinkney’s circumstances, the more you
will likely appreciate its deliberately off-putting vibe. Basically, you should
already know with absolute certainty whether She’s Allergic to Cats is for you, so plan accordingly when it
screens today (3/25) at this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.

Friday, March 24, 2017

BUFF ’17: 68 Kill

Its
called exploitation for a reason. Neither the filmmaker or the characters of
this gleefully sordid, southern-fried caper gives a toss if it hurts your
feelings or upsets your delicate sensibilities. People are going to get
humiliated, beaten-up silly, and all kinds of dead in Trent Haaga’s 68 Kill, which screens tonight during
the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival.

A
femme fatale vixen like Liza ought to be well out of the league of Chip, a
truly luckless loser, but they probably deserve each other. She treats him like
dirt and he keeps coming back for more. Unfortunately, he does not make enough
money mucking out septic tanks to cover their rent, so every month she pays off
the landlord in “services rendered.” Unfortunately for him, he lets it slip
during their awkward pillow talk that he has 68 grand in cash, currently on
hand, just begging for Liza to hatch a violent home invasion scheme to snatch
it away.

Of
course, that is exactly what she does, dragging the alarmed Chip along to ride
shotgun. Seeing how easily Liza guns down her victims makes rethink their
relationship, especially when he lays eyes on Violet (another woman reluctantly
forced to service the late landlord). Chip is smitten and also horrified by
Liza’s plans for their captive (they are utterly appalling), so he coldcocks his
soon-to-be ex, grabs the money and the girl and starts running for all he’s
worth. Obviously, Liza will be hot on their trail, with Hell following after
her, but a group of sadistic white trash psychopaths might turn out to be a
more pressing problem.

68 Kill is a lurid,
nihilistic revel in perversity, but it is bizarrely entertaining to see how low
it is willing to go. When Haaga hits rock bottom, he starts drilling into the Earth’s
crust. This film just wallows in primordial sleaze, but you have to give it
credit for making due on its promise.

Based
on his performance as Chip, Matthew Gray Gubler would probably make a good
whipping post. Seriously, it often just hurts to watch him. On the other hand,
AnnaLynne McCord is beyond fierce as Liza, the villainess from Hell. However,
Sheila Vand (as you’ve never seen her before) totally hangs with McCord’s Liza
as Monica, the goth-trash psycho-hooker. Alisha Boe also keeps the audience off
balance as Violet. She looks and acts sweet, but she archly delivers some of
the dirtiest lines in the film.

To his credit, Haaga keeps it all zinging along.
This is everything My Father Dieaspired
to be, but fell far short of reaching. Recommended for its sheer chutzpah, 68 Kill screens tonight (3/24) as part
of this year’s BUFF.

BUFF ’17: The Call of Charlie (short)

Unfortunately,
Emily Post never explained how to act when attending a dinner party with a
Lovecraftian elder god. It turns out you can just call him Charlie, but please
don’t stare at his Cephalopod head. Of course, it is hard not to, as one
somewhat uncouth couple learns when they crash the wrong soiree in Nick Spooner’s
short film, The Call of Charlie (trailer here), which screens tonight
as part of the HomegrownHorror shorts block at the 2017 BostonUnderground Film Festival.

Diane
and Mark are preparing for an intimate dinner party. The only guests they have
invited are their old friend Charlie and Maureen, an office-mate they hope to
fix him up with. They have thoroughly prepped her for Charlie, so she
understands what to expect. However, when Diane’s college friend Virginia and
her husband Jay spontaneously decide to pop over with a bottle of wine, they
have no idea what they are getting into.

Poor
Jay is a little put off by Charlie’s tentacle-face. As his revulsion grows, he
starts breaching etiquette in numerous ways. Still, it is hard to blame him for
getting rattled, since Charlie radiates pure, ancient, primordial evil.

Call of Charlie is easily one of
the funniest shorts currently making the festival rounds. You could argue it is
essentially a prolonged comedy sketch, but the sad truth is shows like SNL simply are no longer sufficiently
literate to produce a Lovecraft-themed routine, nor do they have the guts to
handle its macabre edge.

Brooke
Smith and Harry Sinclair are terrific as Diane and Mark. They seem very with-it
and witty, but they are also completely nuts. Frankly, Roberta Valderrama is
just amazingly obnoxious as Virginia, while the way Evan Arnold’s Jay loses his
cool is quite a spectacle to behold.

The Charlie make-up effects are impressive as well,
especially considering short films usually have short budgets. Lovecraft fans
will absolutely bow down in reverence, but anyone who digs horror and cult cinema
will be charmed by The Call of Charlie
when it screens tonight (3/24), as part of HomegrownHorror, at BUFF ’17.

Life: It’s Out There

Now
that NASA is not so temporarily out of the manned space flight business, we
have to hitch a ride with the Russians if we want to visit the International
Space Station (ISS) that we helped build. Perhaps we should just leave it to
them, if it really is the veritable playground for hostile extraterrestrials
this film suggests. The good news is scientists have confirmed the existence of
an alien life-form, but the bad news is it will inevitably start killing
everyone in Daniel Espinosa’s Life (trailer here), which opens today
nationwide.

Due
to technical malfunctions, the ISS crew nearly fails to retrieve the fateful
sample from their Mars probe, which would have ended the film prematurely but
prolonged the characters’ lives. Naturally, once they start analyzing the
sample, they find some kind of alien entity within. Nicknamed “Calvin” by driven
lead researcher Hugh Derry, the creature starts out as an amoeba like cellular organism,
but soon grows into a hissing, slithery alien not unlike the one from a certain
1979 science fiction-horror film we could mention. For a while, Calvin appears
to go into hibernation, but it rouses in a foul mood when Derry gives it a series
of electro-shocks. What a super idea that turns out to be.

Before
you can say “in space nobody can hear you scream,” Calvin starts killing off
crew-members one-by-one. He has a rather nasty technique of invading the body
through open orifices and then exploding outward—again not wildly dissimilar
from the Ridley Scott classic (it truly casts a giant shadow over Espinosa’s
entire film).

So
yeah, it is a heck of a lot like Alien, but
not as scary. However, what really works here is the ISS setting and easy-going
camaraderie of the crew. Espinosa and production designer Nigel Phelps really
give viewers a sense of what it is like to live and work on the ISS. We feel
like we understand exactly how the station operates, thanks to some
surprisingly tense duct-closing sequences. Furthermore, Life arguably has some of the best weightlessness scenes rendered
to-date on film. Screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick also
differentiate the crew-members’ personalities much more than the typical “bug
hunt” movie. Yet, those merits make it even more disappointing when the film stops
trying to be original and resigns itself to ripping off Alien during the third act.

Don’t
get too attached to anyone, but while he is around, Ryan Reynolds is jolly good
fun to watch as Rory Adams, the ISS’s cocky space cowboy. Ariyon Bakare and Hiroyuki
Sanada add tragic heft as Derry and Sho Kendo, respectively. Although Olga (Twilight Portrait) Dihovichnaya’s
Russian Captain Golovkina is more of a stock character, she gets the best death
scene.

Despite its genre-ness, Life still manages to show its respect for the sacrifice and
idealism of the space program, which is rather nice. It is somewhat akin to
Sebastián Cordero’s Europa Report,
but it is more conventionally monster-driven. While it falls short of its
ambitions, it is considerably better than it had to be. Frankly, it is kind of
impressive Life has ambitions in the
first place. It probably doesn’t justify Manhattan ticket prices, but it will seem
like a surprisingly good sleeper movie for those who stream it on impulse in a
few months’ time. For those who can’t wait, Life
opens in wide release today (3/24), including the AMC Empire in New York.

J.B. Spins

About Me

J.B. (Joe Bendel) works in the book publishing industry, and also teaches jazz survey courses at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He has written jazz articles for publications which would be appalled by his political affiliation. He also coordinated instrument donations for displaced musicians on a volunteer basis for the Jazz Foundation of America during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Send e-mail to: jb.feedback "at" yahoo "dot" com.